[0:01] [Music] [0:19] good morning and welcome to the fourth banal Chamber of Commerce sponsored Minnesota congressional district to [0:26] debate in a world where there's often divide let's start with what unites with what unites Us by joining and reciting [0:33] our Pledge of Allegiance please stand if you're able and face our [0:38] flag I pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America and to the rep [0:46] stands na God indivisible withy andice [0:52] for all [1:00] okay well good morning everyone my name is Christa Jack I'm the president of the Lakeville Chamber of Commerce I would [1:05] like to welcome our candidates and those in the audience including several media Outlets to our Historic downtown [1:11] Lakeville um I do suggest after we're done this morning we have uh half a dozen restaurants in walking distance so [1:18] I recommend late breakfast over at better half or a burger at B52 or Lakeville Brewing uh enjoy our historic [1:25] downtown while you're here and uh Chris coming to Lakeville today it's kind of like a coming to a homework movie was [1:30] kind of impressive I like that it a little bit um given but given the traditional high energy of this uh [1:36] debate I might suggest you might also consider heading a little further east to farmington's Bourbon butcher that [1:42] later on this afternoon and stepping up to their well-known bar uh it might be [1:47] just a ticket for some of you in the audience to wind down but regardless of where you are please visit your local chamber members to boost their local [1:54] economies after this debate so I'm John Alto president and chief Mission officer of the Dakota County Regional Chamber of [2:00] Commerce of Minnesota we represent nine cities our largest are Egan Farmington [2:06] Mota Heights Rosemont West St Paul and we have three townships within Dakota County as well and even though Chris and [2:12] I heill from Lakeville in the DCR chamber we're here today representing the other 13 cd2 chamber Partners in [2:19] Apple Valley Burnsville Cottage Grove Elco New Market Hastings Lonsdale [2:24] Montgomery New prag Northfield Prior Lake River height Savage and Shaka and [2:31] October is breast cancer awareness month and I'm wearing pink today as I do every day in October just to remind everybody [2:37] that early detection saves lives very good John uh today's debate is an opportunity to educate and engage our [2:43] voters from the Minnesota Congressional to District uh our district is historically a highly watched race for [2:48] congress in the country and we are very honored to have the two major party candidates with us here today so Angie [2:54] Craig and Joe tayab thank you both for your desire to serve our district and for being here with us today uh we would [3:00] also like to recognize some of the people that helped make this event possible to the beautiful Lakeville art [3:05] center staff Town Square television for live streaming the debate wnav for our [3:10] sound production our vid video production teams at both the cities of Burnsville and Lakeville our Lakeville [3:16] Police Department the c campaign teams for both of our candidates and all others who have played a role in this [3:22] today um and we are live streaming this event and will be available for viewing after the fact so please contact your [3:27] local chamber for details on that for those that are watching live uh feel free to tweet and post on social media [3:34] using # mn02 this the only time we ask the audience to be on their phone if you're [3:40] tweeting or sending social media posts the Chambers of Commerce are the voice of business and we serve to strengthen [3:47] our communities the chambers in Congressional congressional district 2 are incredibly powerful we have over [3:53] 3,000 Collective members and we provide over 100,000 jobs with which have [4:00] created the third largest economy region in Minnesota and that's why we're here [4:05] today to represent them so first we'd like to welcome our two timekeepers that are with us today uh Ren Johnson is the [4:12] student Senate advocacy director from Inver Hills Community College and Bethany Mahia ellias did I get it okay I [4:19] got yep um is our student Senate President at Dakota County Technical College so as you see candidates we've [4:25] gotten these people out here a little excited about food you're now the only thing standing between them and lunch so [4:31] these guys are going to keep you on task all right so prior to today's debate our [4:36] audience which consists of chamber members throughout the district college students and various media Personnel uh [4:43] we've been asked to adhere to the guidelines have been provided and handed out to each of you today they will allow [4:48] respectful exchange of positions uh by our candidates uninterrupted those who [4:53] do not comply with the code of contact may be uh may be asked to leave and hopefully Chris that won't accept to our [5:00] candidates or you John or me that is a risk please remember to silence your [5:06] cell phones now okay so the format for today's today's debate is going to go as [5:11] follows um written questions were submitted in advance by our sponsoring chamber members and the candidates have [5:17] been given the topics that we are going to discuss today but they have not been given the questions uh and the speaking [5:22] order was determined by uh via a numerical uh generator so we will start with two opening opening comment ments [5:29] where they will have 2 minutes each they will rotate the order with each question each candidate will answer every [5:35] question and candidates will be given 90 seconds to answer their questions each candidate will then have 30 seconds to [5:42] respond if desired and we will end the debate with closing comments 2 minutes per candidate the timekeepers will alert [5:49] you uh of time by holding up colored cards a yellow one when you have 15 seconds remaining and a red card when [5:55] your time is complete and a reminder to our live audience we ask that there be no applause or interruptions during the [6:01] debate out of respect for our candidates but Christa we're going to have an exception to that because right now we're asking for a round of applause for [6:06] our candidates who have taken the time to meet with us [Applause] [6:17] today all right let's get going so we are going to start with opening comments uh candidates again you have two minutes [6:23] each and Angie Craig you will go first well first and foremost thank you so much John and Christa for moderating [6:29] debate and thank you to the Regional Chamber and the 13 partner Chambers from across the second congressional district [6:36] I just want to start by acknowledging that today is October 7th and that is the one-year anniversary of uh the [6:43] brutal uh murder and um terroristic actions in Israel and we're spending the [6:49] day remembering you know I grew up uh in a trailer home some of you may remember [6:56] that from some of my earlier uh campaigns and I left that trailer home [7:01] to go to a state college and I remember because all those years ago you could [7:06] actually go and work a couple of jobs and take out a little bit of student loans and actually pay for your State [7:13] College I I worked my way up through uh 22 years of working in business and the [7:20] last 12 years here in Minnesota before I stepped out to run for Congress I was actually uh an executive with St Jude [7:27] Medical right here in the Twin Cities as part of that I represented the company on the St Paul Chamber of Commerce so uh [7:35] I feel like it's a bit of a homecoming today my wife Cheryl and I we now have four adult sons if you can believe it or [7:42] not the youngest is 21 years old uh and a senior in college but he graduated [7:48] three years ago uh from Rosemont High School and we are so grateful to our teachers and Educators in our [7:55] communities we now also have three grandsons uh the youngest was born 2 [8:00] months ago uh and we are so excited to now have a three-year-old Noah a [8:06] one-year-old Wyatt uh and then two-month-old little Levi so becoming a [8:11] grandmother has been significant the second district of Minnesota has been our home this is [8:18] where we go to church where we play where we have so many friends and it would be truly an honor to continue to [8:25] represent you in the second district thank you thank you Angie Joe you may begin [8:31] well thank you uh so much John and Chrissa for hosting this debate thank you congresswoman for being here and [8:36] thank you everyone for being here from the Dakota County uh chamber um I have [8:41] to note yes that today is October 7th and it is very sobering to know that one year ago Israelis were brutally murdered [8:50] and we need to stand with Israel and stand on the side of righteousness and [8:56] Justice um for those of you who don't know me um I was born and raised here in [9:01] Minnesota I grew up in a small town in Windam my dad worked at a Beef Processing Plant uh he's an immigrant [9:08] from Sudan I was honored to serve in the United States Marine Corps uh for five years on active duty as a Jag officer I [9:16] deployed to the Middle East where we faced Hamas similar or faced Isis similar to what we were seeing with [9:22] Hamas then I was honored to serve as a federal prosecutor where I worked with law enforcement hand inand to put bad [9:29] guys behind bars across the state of Minnesota and I'm running for United [9:34] States Congress because I can't sit idly by while I feel like the American dream [9:39] that I've been blessed to live is slipping away and we're seeing that on the economy with uh a Biden Harris [9:46] agenda in my view that has poured gas on the inflation fire rubber stamped by [9:52] congresswoman Craig um and we're seeing middle- class families getting crushed by inflation with Reckless spending bill [9:58] after Reckless spending bill we're seeing an open border we're seeing um rise in crime and fraud out of control [10:06] in Minnesota and that's personal to me as someone who worked hand inand with law enforcement to put some of those [10:11] people behind bars I think we can go a new Direction because I believe in America I believe in [10:18] bipartisanship I believe in common sense that's what why we can all come together as people who are in this room who are [10:24] job creators who are focused on just adding value to our society we can do that that but we can only do that if [10:30] we're doing it together and that's why I'm running for congress thank you both we'll now begin [10:37] with questions John and the first question I have to ask is do you both support the 5 and0 Minnesota [10:43] Vikings all right yes and the links I'll just do it right here now and the L links that are going to eclipse the sun [10:50] tomorrow night right right and what about those Gophers you're supporting of the Gophers right big gopher fan and I [10:56] will can neither confirmed or deny whether or not I stormed the field in 2019 when our Gophers beat Penn State uh [11:04] all right well we're going to get into a question that you may not questions that there may not be agreement on so let's dig into that the first one's on [11:10] economic development and jobs so many of our businesses are still recovering from [11:16] the pandemic what role do you see the federal government playing in incentivizing economic growth in our [11:22] district ESP special in Rural and underserved areas and we'll start with Joe 90 [11:29] seconds well the government has a big role in that the government should have a big role in stepping back and letting [11:36] job creators and small businesses do their job I think the biggest problem in 2020 and afterwards over after the [11:43] pandemic was that Joe Biden and Kel Harris said that they needed to step up their game and pass Reckless spending [11:50] bill after Reckless spending Bill and again those were all passed and voted for by congresswoman Craig and those [11:57] bills remind you Bill Clinton's economic advisor and and Barack Obama's economic [12:03] adviser said that these bills were the most irresponsible macr economic policies of the last 40 years and [12:10] congresswoman Craig voted for those bills and that threw gas on the inflation fire Mak it harder for small [12:16] businesses to grow and innovate and so my goal is to put more and more money in [12:21] the pockets of middle- class families and small businesses so they can take that money and put it back into [12:27] Innovation to put to put it back into the research and development um and so as I talk to business owners and [12:33] families across the second district my goal is to put more money into your pocket because I know as someone who worked as a federal prosecutor on the [12:40] feeding our future investigation the government doesn't do a great job generally on spending money you spend [12:47] the best job on money that you're getting we need to make sure we're putting money into your pockets to let our economy [12:53] Thrive thank you Angie you have 90 seconds to answer the same question well [12:58] when I was in executive at St Jude Medical I remember we worked with uh Governor Tim pente in particular to get [13:04] a new bridge so that we could agree to build our corporate headquarters rebuild [13:10] our corporate headquarters here and my experience has been in business that when you have a strong U public private [13:17] partnership the public side investing in infrastructure uh like the bipartisan infrastructure bill that often times [13:24] private sector investment follows that um I've been very focused because I know [13:30] businesses in this District 93% of businesses here are small businesses I've been very focused on how do we [13:37] lower cost whether that's lowering the cost of prescription drugs or lowering the cost of gasoline through year round [13:44] E5 which also supports our family Farmers or how do we put a little more [13:49] money into our seniors Pockets uh by ending federal taxes on Social Security [13:56] now Joe my opponent um has actually said uh that he wants to raise the retirement [14:02] age and he thinks that we should look at privatizing Social Security I adamantly [14:07] disagree with that and at the end of the day I've stood with so many of you during those times in 2020 in fact it [14:14] was under President Trump that I served and we passed paycheck Protection Program money in this District to make [14:21] sure that many of our local businesses uh survived during that difficult time [14:27] period And as your remember I'm always going to listen to you just like I listened to the chamber when I said we needed to include 501 C6 businesses in [14:35] that program thank you Joe you may have 30 seconds to respond yeah well thank [14:41] you so much and congresswoman Craig you know that that's a false attack you've made false attacks against me as proven [14:46] by kscp and WCCO my parents are on Social Security of course I don't want to cut Social Security benefits or raise [14:53] your retirement age that was a clip that was taken out of context what I've talked about from the beginning of this [14:58] race is I'm focused on middle class families like the one I came from my parents are on Social Security the last [15:03] thing I want to do is focus on that the one thing I want to focus on is putting more money in your pockets I think the [15:10] economic pie should grow that's what my focus is going to be on Angie you may have 30 seconds to respond well I [15:17] couldn't bring a phone up here or I would have brought the recording Joe what you said was at a certain point you [15:23] have to change what the retirement age is going to be and I appreciate that [15:29] you're walking that back now but this was at a campaign event called pints and [15:35] politics in this congressional district I understand you're trying to walk it back but it's actually on tape so it's [15:42] kind of tough to do it okay thank you both we'll going move on to the next question [15:48] Christ we're going to talk about taxes and regulation uh Minesota has some of the [15:53] highest business taxes in the nation and this is something that we hear consistency from consistently from our small businesses as chamber for [15:59] presidents how would you address the balance between federal state and local tax burdens for businesses especially [16:05] our small and medium-sized Enterprises to help them be more competitive Angie you will go first with this one 90 [16:11] seconds sure I've actually introduced a bill to lower the tax rate on small businesses in the second congressional [16:17] district right now the federal tax rate is 21% I have a bill that would lower that [16:22] to 18% on any business uh the first 400,000 [16:28] in Revenue up to a $5 million business so I've thought deeply about this you know my mom was a teacher for almost 40 [16:35] years but during that time growing up too uh she also uh owned a small [16:40] business a dress shop so I get it uh and lowering business tax rates are really [16:46] important to me the other thing that I think we have to think about because we're balancing it is the 2017 tax cut [16:53] and jobs act uh capped state and local tax deductions at $10,000 and think we [16:59] should raise that rate I think that was one of the main issues with um the 2017 [17:04] uh bill that uh president Trump uh and the Republican controlled Congress at [17:10] the time passed and uh so this is something that I would be looking at because in 2025 we have a number of tax [17:18] issues that we're going to have to address as a nation and there were some good changes with that you know I'm uh [17:25] ranked by Common Ground committee as in the top 3% of all bipartisan members of [17:30] Congress so things like increasing the standard deduction some of the changes for small business owners extending the [17:37] ACA tax credits I'm going to be open to working with my Republican colleagues to [17:42] keep a number of those items uh into the new year thank you Andre Joel yeah we [17:49] know that Minnesota is one of the most tax disadvantaged states in our country [17:54] some uh Outlets have it as 44 out of 50 states in terms of of our tax uh [18:00] business climate that's just unacceptable we cannot have the federal government pouring it on at that point [18:05] so there's a couple things we have to do one we cannot engage in Reckless spending bill after Reckless spending [18:11] Bill like we did with the kamla Harris and Joe Biden agenda that congresswoman Craig you voted for that was the least [18:17] macroeconomic uh least responsible macro macroeconomic policy in the last 40 years that cause inflation so we cannot [18:25] have that but we also what we have to do is pass tax relief for for middle class families and this begins with extending [18:32] the 2017 tax cuts which uh Angie Craig I understand that you're against and I am [18:37] for a 20% small business deduction that that that those tax cuts brought for sole proprietorships Partnerships and [18:44] escorts I'm for uh raate reducing those taxes for individual uh tax rates for [18:50] increasing the standard deduction that I understand that we're both for um but we need to make sure that we're also um [18:57] making the full deduction for certain Capital invest Investments that I mean I [19:02] was having a conversation with a small business owner over in Scott County he talked about how hey the more money the government takes the less we can put [19:08] into research and development and Innovation and that's real that's real for them it's real for their employees it's real for our economy I want to like [19:15] I said make our economic P grow that's what we should be focused on focus on you actually providing jobs and spurring [19:22] our economy thank you Jen Angie 30 seconds if you'd like yeah so I do think [19:27] there are elements of the 2017 tax cut and jobs act that we should keep certainly the standard deduction was a [19:33] good change making the R&D tax credit permanence uh permanent is something that I'm going to be working toward uh [19:40] in the new year and the 20% small business tax uh uh deductions I support [19:46] that in addition to lowering the tax rate from 21 to 18% on many many small [19:52] businesses so you know I served on a chamber I helped build a business from about a billion to5 billion in Revenue [19:59] over 22 years so uh I look forward to working with my business [20:05] Community one thing that business owners talked to me about and for sure those in our egg economies is just the price of [20:11] inputs and those went up with inflation going up and again we need to go back to the Nexus of why we had inflation a big [20:18] reason why was because gas was poured on that inflation fire with those two massive uh spending bills with the [20:25] American Rescue plan and inflation reduction act that congresswoman Craig you voted for we cannot have that we [20:30] cannot go with the status quo on the economy we need to go in a due Direction you need that job creators need that [20:37] small businesses need that that's what I'm going to be for thank you both move on to the next question next question is [20:43] on inflation so local businesses have been growing concerns about cost burdens due [20:49] to inflation this impacts payroll reinvestments prices they need to pass on to Consumers how much money they can [20:56] provide to um youth groups and other community Ventures as well so how do you [21:01] propose that we address this concern of inflation Joe you'll go first yeah and it's something that we've already talked [21:08] about there's a few things we can do we can for sure cut Reckless spending we can root out waste Fraud and Abuse like [21:14] I was honored to do as a federal prosecutor um but one thing we need to do is making sure that we're growing the [21:19] economic Pie by reducing regulation and reducing taxes and it's just really unfortunate I'm a you know proud motan [21:26] grew up in a small town with where uh we we focus on working hard but people are [21:32] working as hard as they can and not getting ahead because the price of inflation and we had median income in [21:38] Minnesota uh adjusted for inflation go down in 2023 so why is that it's not [21:45] because we aren't great with social cap human capital in Minnesota it's not great it's not bad because we're we're [21:51] not a hardworking people it's bad because of our system it's because of our policies it's because of our politics and sadly Congress Craig you [21:59] could have put our country and our uh policies over politics but you didn't do [22:06] that when you voted for the inflation reduction act which you said a couple years ago would have actually reduced [22:11] the deficit but it actually grew the deficit you could have done that when you could have voted against uh Reckless [22:17] spending bill in the American Rescue plan but unfortunately congresswoman Craig you didn't do that you could have [22:22] actually tried to focus on putting more money in all the folks in here's Pockets so you could actually grow your [22:28] businesses that's that's really important and that's what I'm going to focus on in Congress putting more money in your [22:35] pockets thank you Angie you have 90 seconds to answer the same question sure [22:40] input costs certainly have been going up and it's been a challenge for our business and I've been laser focused on [22:46] the ways in which we can actually uh reduce cost as we all know in uh inflation has been a challenge it's uh [22:54] down to I think about 2.2% but it's been a real fight that's why been focused on [22:59] reducing the cost of prescription drugs on uh reducing um you know the cost of [23:04] gas through supporting year round E15 but Joe let's not pretend that um under [23:10] the previous administration who by the way I worked with effectively wherever I could in fact president Trump signed [23:17] four bills into law while uh I served in my first term in Congress let's not pretend that we didn't add $8.4 [23:25] trillion to the deficit during the Trump Administration um everything you're talking about and [23:31] some of that some of that I support it and you know why U because the cares act [23:36] allowed the folks in this room to get as access to the paycheck Protection [23:42] Program and we were able to save uh employees jobs in a number of businesses [23:48] like Spiral Brewery and Hastings and Wildcats and Egan um you know 21,000 [23:54] loans went out to this congressional district um uh so at the end of the day [24:00] I'm not going to tell 32002 District seniors that sorry your insulin can't be [24:06] capped anymore because uh of the inflation reduction act being repealed if Joe tayab is ever in [24:14] Congress thank you Joe you have 30 seconds to respond if you wish yeah my goal is to put more money in your [24:20] pockets and so far in this campaign I've heard two solutions from Angie Craig about the economy and inflation one is [24:27] to start a task force second is to price fix with going at price gouging and so [24:34] my question is that is somehow blaming business owners for raising prices in an economic climate where you can't control [24:41] that business owners and job creators that's the job of the government to get out of the way and let you thrive um I I [24:47] know the cost of groceries and gas and housing is through the roof that doesn't have to do um with your fault it's not [24:53] your fault it's the government's fault for cause and inflation we can get out of the way [24:59] thank you Andrew you have 30 seconds to respond if you wish well look the people in this room also have input cost and I [25:05] think they'd like to know as well when large corporations are charging an exorbitant amount of money higher than [25:11] what the rate of inflation is and if you can't look at big company profits or big [25:17] uh CEO pay and see that it's gone up at a rate that is outpaced uh everything uh [25:23] inflation even uh then you're not paying attention at the end of the day uh I've [25:28] just identified a bill that I've sponsored and written that I wrote a year ago that would reduce tax rates for [25:35] small business owners in our district thank you both we'll move on to our next question thank you uh we'll be talking [25:42] about infrastructure and investment how will you advocate for investments in infrastructure such as roads broadband [25:47] and utilities that are crucial for our business development and expansion in Minnesota's second district and Angie [25:53] you will go first with this one 90 seconds well I am incredibly proud to have voted to support the bipartisan [26:00] infrastructure bill again you know Washington is is broken in the sense that uh either party tries everything it [26:08] can to do something partisan and in the end the only thing that actually gets done is done on a bipartisan basis I [26:15] have been focused on working with uh the leaders in this room the mayors of my [26:21] cities the County Commissioners in my cities to ask each of you what are the [26:26] most important infrastructure projects s or projects in our communities that are going to make the biggest difference and [26:33] we're sitting here uh in Lakeville so I'll just talk about uh the regional Public Safety Training Facility uh that [26:40] we were able to bring some dollars home to support in the last budget and we'll we've asked for I think 7 million more [26:46] in the next budget to support our local law enforcement here in Lakeville uh [26:52] investing in roads and bridges as I said before when I worked for St Jude Medical what seemed to happen is When government [26:59] would invest the public sector in this uh physical infrastructure then that [27:05] would lead to further private sector growth as well creating jobs all throughout our community and you can't [27:11] be in Lakeville and not talk about just how fast it's been able to grow and of [27:16] course Rosemont also is growing at a record Pace right now as a result of all of the incoming Investments with meta [27:24] building a data center there the additional thousands of jobs that are going to be created thank you Angie Joel [27:32] yeah I I think we need to of course uh devote resources uh to infrastructure [27:38] roads Bridges I was you know a resident of Minnesota remembered when the 35W [27:43] bridge collapse just totally unacceptable as someone who's living in this country we need to make sure that [27:49] you job creators can get your products and businesses out to International markets but that at least begins um with [27:56] having the Transportation uh infastructure to make that happen I think it's also unfortunate that our our [28:02] government is getting in the way of that kind of growth um I remember talking to a job Creator who uh him and his wife [28:09] had bought some property I believe in southern Dakota County and talked about how the how many of the permitting [28:14] processes he had to go through to actually uh improve his land him and his wife's land that's just unacceptable [28:20] it's unacceptable that right at this point takes about four and a half years uh to get a permit uh a federal permit [28:27] to for federal contract contractors we can we can FASTT track our certification process we can FASTT track our [28:32] permitting process um that's something we we can definitely do and we need to ensure that and if I would be proud [28:38] enough to represent the people of the uh of the second district here in Minnesota uh to making sure we're bringing back [28:44] some of those federal dollars here because we minnesotans do pay out you more in taxes uh than we end up bringing [28:50] back so we need to make sure that we're standing strong for Minnesota and and investing in our in our economy thank [28:56] you Joe Andrew you have three seconds well I also think that we need permitting reform it's slowing down some [29:02] of the progress we could be making and I put pressure on the administration to do just that um we do need to bring our tax [29:09] dollars home and that's exactly what I've been doing over the last six years um even just in Dakota County you know [29:16] the Burnsville Public Safety command unit Hastings past these are all Community Project funding request Dakota [29:22] County rivert River Greenway uh roads in uh various parts of the district Highway [29:28] 13 uh over in Burnsville these are actual projects underway because um I've [29:34] worked with you to bring those dollars back to Minnesota thank you Angie Joe [29:40] yeah you know I I think we need to do we need to focus on again getting the [29:45] government out of the way in terms of can people build buildings fast enough [29:50] can people build build buildings fast enough and right now we're just not able to do that and I think one big thing [29:57] that is easily solvable is just reforming our permitting process and getting government out of the way by [30:03] cutting regulations um and so that's what I'm going to be focused on in Congress thank you both let's move on uh [30:11] next question is on Workforce and education so there's a growing gap between available jobs and skills of job [30:19] Seekers particularly in high demand areas of manufacturing technology health [30:24] care and law enforcement sectors what is your plan to help address this Gap and [30:29] we'll start with Joe yeah I have to say a group in a small town went to public school myself when I was in the Marine [30:36] Corps I taught at a public uh Community College and it was I was proud to you [30:41] know kind of work with folks who came from different backgrounds to just get their education and I think I do applaud [30:48] uh Angy Craig's effort to make sure that hey we don't have requirements for four-year degrees for a lot of these [30:53] jobs I remember talking to an individual I think just last week at at a chamber event who talked about how he bought an [31:00] auto repair company or auto repair shop recently and you know his he didn't [31:05] realized that the biggest problem for him might be hiring enough employees hiring enough mechanics and so he had he [31:12] has got eight bays in his auto repair shop and he's can only hire four um [31:17] mechanics uh that's just unacceptable we need to do a better job of investing in our technical colleges and our community [31:24] colleges so that we have the ability to to actually fill those jobs I think too also we need to reform our immigration [31:30] system because as I've talked to job creators who are likely sitting in this room you know of course we have a border [31:35] problem we need to make sure people are coming here legally but at the same time like folks like my dad who came here in the 70s legally we need to make sure [31:42] we're getting the right people here who can fill jobs that we can't currently uh meet because that's going to be helpful [31:48] not only for them of course but for everyone in our economy who's going to benefit from that because that um auto [31:54] repair shop owner who I talked to he for sure would want to double his out by being able to fill those eight Bays [32:00] instead of just the four Bays we can get that done uh just with a little bit of smart and Common [32:05] Sense Andie you have 90 seconds to answer the same question well career skills and Technical education has been [32:11] one of my highest priorities as a member of Congress I'm so proud to partner with DCTC on so many in so many ways and I [32:18] formerly served before I ran for congress on the foundation Board of Inver Hills Community College this has [32:24] always been a passion area of mine and part of that is having resp responsibility for a Workforce I was [32:29] responsible for 16,000 employees uh at St Jude Medical at one point in time in my career there [32:36] on the leadership team and one of the biggest challenges we had across Medtech not just at St Jude metronic Boston [32:43] Scientific others uh is that we couldn't find quality engineers and so we [32:48] developed a program that would help us develop quality engineers and coming back to that public private partnership [32:56] when you have a Workforce you need to make sure that your governments your schools um we have so many great [33:02] Pathways programs here in our community where students can learn those technology jobs of the future they can [33:09] learn uh how to go into the building trades on the advanced manufacturing front I am the proud mother of a [33:16] graduate from an advanced manufacturing trade school and my son Josh he started his career and by the way he's off my [33:23] payroll uh started his career uh in advanced manufactur ing so uh look I'm [33:29] putting my um um beliefs where my mouth is in my own uh Congressional office I [33:35] was the very first member of Congress to eliminate all four-year degrees for [33:41] every position in my congressional office because I believe so fundamentally that experience matters [33:48] thank you Joe you going to have 30 seconds to respond if you wish yeah I this is this super important because I [33:54] think it's it's something that's very very common sense uh we need to make sure that we're investing in in jobs and [34:00] careers that uh we just can't meet right now with our current um Workforce and so [34:06] whether that's making sure we reform our immigration system so that we have the right people here to actually meet those [34:12] jobs but also you know strategically investing um at the community college level and even high school level to make [34:18] sure that those those folks um have those skills I was very proud to be endorsed by uh nfib the nation's you the [34:25] leading small business advocacy organization that's really taken the Leading Edge on this and I'm proud to [34:31] make sure that we're focused on those solutions for workforce and development thank you Andie you have 30 seconds to [34:36] respond if you wish well look I I think that um we do need to make sure that we have a secure border and that we also [34:43] have immigration I was at Bailey Industries recently in Cottage Grove and uh they talked about the need for uh [34:49] more TN visas um there's the need for more h2a labor year round labor for [34:54] example you know our family farmers in this District uh they need that labor so we just need to make sure um that people [35:02] who are coming uh to this country uh to immigrate here are coming through the front door through h2a visas or TN [35:10] visas thank you both move on to the next question CH Well Angie you're going to get to elaborate because you're going to start first and guess what it's going to [35:16] be immigration so you guys I don't looking at my notes over here but no see uh given the ongoing discussions about [35:23] immigration and the implications for our country as as you both have just talked about uh please share your position on immigration policy and your rationale [35:30] and Angie again you may go first well let me just start with the topic of border security I actually think this is one area where the B Administration [35:37] missed the mark early in 2022 I was telling the B Administration publicly [35:42] standing up against them telling them not to end title 42 too prematurely [35:48] because we were going to have an influx of of migrants at the southern border and it was going to be a humanitarian [35:54] disaster and so I have been outspoken uh on on this issue to my own party's [36:01] Administration um and with that obviously uh I have gone down to the [36:07] southern border 17 Republicans and three Democrats we went down there together uh to look at what's happening at the [36:13] southern border uh it took them too long uh and I called for it but uh Biden [36:18] finally issued an executive order that seems to be stemming at least the tide uh down there at the moment but [36:25] unfortunately there is a solution it was a bipartisan by cameal border bill that [36:31] Republicans and Democrats came up with together it achieved much of what Biden [36:36] did finally under executive order um but unfortunately um the candidate for [36:43] president uh the former president told his party we don't want you to pass it [36:48] because it's going to help me politically if there's a a problem at the southern border so I think we we [36:54] absolutely have to keep our borders secure and that's something that I have been very outspoken with um in [37:00] opposition to my own party for the last three years thank you Joe uh Angie Craig [37:07] you've mentioned the word outspoken a couple times and unfortunately words are cheap and actions matter and you voted [37:13] against a border security bill in 2023 this apparently I think was after [37:19] you visited the border which is maybe even more concerning because of course you would have heard from border [37:25] security uh Personnel who would have told you that the Border was running out of control and we know that we've had 10 [37:31] million illegal immigrants coming into our country we need border security uh and you voted against that Common Sense [37:37] border security bill that just would have built more of the border wall it would have given more funding to border patrol agents and it would have actually [37:44] just reformed our Asylum process those things are just extremely common sense and I say this as a guy who maybe is [37:51] self-evident my dad's an immigrant uh from Sudan he came here legally to add [37:56] to our American dream because of their American Dream um and I know that we have job creators who need uh folks in [38:03] the workforce but we need to have a process that is legal and Angie Craig [38:08] you voted against a common sense border security bill you could have voted against it you could have actually in [38:14] that moment not just used words you could have used actions with a [38:19] vote and you voted against that voter security Bill uh that is unacceptable [38:25] you could have stood up to your party and you didn't Angie would you like to [38:31] respond yeah the way I would respond is that um that wasn't a bipartisan border Bill the bipartisan border bill that was [38:38] developed by the Senate was actually endorsed by the border agents that I stood with On the Border in 2019 I [38:46] supported president's Trump president Trump's request for about a billion dollars in funding to build miles and [38:52] miles of the border wall there are places in on the southern border that need barriers need walls there are other [38:59] places that need people 1,500 border agents would have been funded through the bip bipartisan Bill and other places [39:06] we need technology to stop the illicit flow of fentel Joe 30 seconds yeah again um [39:13] actions matter you have to not just talk the talk but walk the walk and you haven't done that Angie Craig uh you [39:20] could have voted for this bill and and you didn't you've made comments that were extremely skeptical of a border [39:25] wall you also voted against bills like um just making sure we're cutting [39:30] off funding to Sanctuary cities that create magnets for illegal immigrants [39:35] and you voted against that so that would have been a common sense thing to actually make our government work more smartly and effectively uh and not [39:42] wasting money and you voted against that all right thank you both let's switch gears with the next question okay [39:49] we're going to jump into the the heart of our district uh agriculture is important part of our district with 40% [39:56] of the district rural farmland and that represents about 15% of Minnesota's [40:01] economy and 10% of our jobs as you studied and listened to the residents [40:07] and the businesses in the district what are the biggest concerns that you see and what do you plan to do to [40:14] address them in Congress Joe you'll go first yeah the the biggest problems we [40:20] see is um just making sure that we have a government that's working smartly um [40:25] for Farmers I I was proud to grow up in a small town worked uh uh grew up at a [40:31] church where half the folks were farmers or grew up on farms my dad worked at a Beef Processing Plant small town values [40:37] and I know um that farmers are some of the best of us and they are really are [40:43] the backbone of our country and we had a farm bill I know they get passed from time to time periodically we had a farm [40:50] bill that was by paron right we had a farm Bild that actually strengthened commodity programs that strengthened [40:56] conservation programs and commodity insurance we had four Democrats vote for this bill out of committee back in May [41:04] but Angie Craig voted against it and so I think folks across the second district have to ask as have to answer the [41:11] question why would Angie Craig vote against this bipartisan Farm Bill she voted a against [41:18] a bipartisan Farm Bill folks like Colin Peterson actually even and many of the [41:23] major commodity groups said that this is good Farm Bill policy um I think we should have passed that [41:30] bill um that would have strengthened Farmers because they're they have unique challenges that I'm very familiar with they have unique challenges with [41:36] droughts with um access to markets with um uh just having [41:43] difficulty and um I'm getting their product to the markets that they need to we need to support Farmers we need to [41:49] support our a economy um and sadley Angie Craig you didn't do that when you voted against a bipartisan Farm [41:55] Bill thank you Andrew you have have 90 seconds well I'm honored to be endorsed [42:00] for reelection as I sit here today by the uh Minnesota Farm Bureau and the [42:05] Minnesota's farmer Minnesota farmer Union um I'm the proud granddaughter of [42:10] a farm Foreman who actually uh his owner lost the farm in the 1980s farm crisis [42:16] it's one reason why I have fought so hard to be on the agriculture committee [42:22] every single session of Congress since I've represented this District in in [42:27] fact this is where I work often with um Republican Brad finstad um with people [42:33] like Dusty Johnson from South Dakota because we all know that it's really [42:38] important to support American agriculture um there are funding mechanism problems in this Farm Bill my [42:45] Farmers know that the farm bill that came out of the a committee prioritizes [42:51] peanuts and cotton over corn and soybeans I'm a person who is fought [42:57] tirelessly to expand the markets for my Corn Growers in ethanol and biodiesel [43:03] with Bean with the bean community so at the end of the day I'm not going to support a farm bill that does not [43:10] prioritize Minnesota Farmers and if Republicans actually had [43:16] the votes for this farm bill by the way it would add 33 trillion dollar excuse [43:22] me billion dollars to our deficit if they actually had the votes they would have brought brought it to the house [43:27] floor instead we've named 31 post offices since this bill passed the ad [43:34] committee they don't have the votes all right Joe you have 30 seconds to respond [43:39] yeah well I remember being at farmfest um when Congressman fince said mentioned that this was a bar Parson farm bill [43:46] that was good on Farm policy I remember seeing uh soybean commodity group come out with very favorable comments about [43:53] this farm bill that again was bipartisan and so this would have been this is helpful because I know the job creators [43:59] in here just like farmers who um have to do so many things in their jobs you guys want certainty right you need to have [44:05] some certainty and predictability to invest appropriately to hire the right people and right now we just don't have [44:11] a farm bill and we could have a farm bill uh Angie Craig if you would have voted for it Angie you have 30 seconds [44:17] to respond we'll get to a farm bill what we need is uh house Republican leadership to uh stop playing politics [44:24] and sit down with Senate leaders on the ad committee and hammer out a compromise [44:29] agreement this is um exactly what republicans in Congress this session who I work with all the time have done with [44:37] every single issue they try it on their own and when the bill can't pass even [44:42] within the Republican caucus they're forced to come back and compromise and come up with a bipartisan solution I [44:50] wish we could just start with bipartisanship but that's where we are thank you both we move on to the the [44:57] next question Krista we're going to talk about Innovation and Technology cyber security threats are a [45:03] growing concern for businesses of all sizes and these include rapid changes in the artificial intelligence Arena what [45:09] federal actions would you support to enhance Hy cyber security protections for our businesses Angie you'll go first [45:15] with this one 90 seconds well look I think this is a significant issue that I know all businesses are dealing with [45:21] today and it's a significant challenge because um you know we have an an ever [45:27] evolving uh you know group of of criminals who are trying to uh steal [45:32] information hack into our systems hold businesses uh for ransom and we have a [45:37] rapidly growing uh AI capability across our country I want to be careful here [45:43] though um I think AI holds tremendous potential and opportunity for us uh in [45:50] our country particularly for businesses to be much more efficient but I think [45:55] that we need to ensure that we're doing everything we can as a Congress to make [46:02] it even more difficult for uh these cyber security folks to come in and try [46:08] to steal uh your information we had significant issues at stjude Medical [46:13] that we were always protecting against and the corporate risk uh and security area of the business actually reported [46:19] to me for a period of time and we have to make sure that we're partnering with our local businesses and our local law [46:25] enforcement uh to to be able to uh find and prosecute these criminals uh as [46:32] well thank you Joe yeah I know our small businesses and job creators are facing [46:37] unique threats that of course we we haven't faced before given um the fact that folks across the world and and [46:44] Russia and other uh folks other places where we have geopolitical um actors working against us um are going to put [46:52] into into Jeopardy the the hard work that our job creators are doing um I know just recently from from crowd [46:58] strike and what what happened recently there are huge issues here and I think in the same way that the federal [47:04] government does have a role in the same way that we you know make sure we need protect our our ports and our [47:10] transportation and our ability for to get our Goods across the world you know technology and AI is very very similar [47:16] in that way so I think we need to make sure that there isn't too much of a government W I think there's a room for balance here um but this is these are [47:24] kind of the byways and the ports of of the future and we need to make sure that they're open Angie I just it's significant and I [47:32] think it's a good sign that you have the leading um players in AI across our country actually coming to the Congress [47:39] and asking us to help Define the rules of the road um I think obviously AI [47:45] holds tremendous promise it also holds some challenges in our country when it comes to uh elections uh and other [47:52] activities that I think we're going to have to stay attuned to uh and so we're [47:57] going to be uh focused on this as the technology continues to develop Joe final 30 seconds on it yeah [48:04] one thing I'd add is I think I saw a recent survey that maybe only a fourth of Minnesota small business companies [48:10] are kind of utilizing AI in in a real way in their companies and I think that if we want to make sure that our [48:16] companies are staying at the Forefront and staying competitive globally that we need to make sure that um our federal [48:21] government is is opening up the spaces and again not being uh you know coming at this issue in a balanced way but [48:27] making sure that they're utilizing AI so that we're not falling behind and not uh being globally [48:33] competitive thank you both let's move on okay the chambers want to know about healthc care and [48:39] benefits so Rising health care costs remain a significant concern for both employers and employees What policies [48:46] would you Advocate to make health care more affordable and accessible for businesses and their workers Joe you get [48:53] to go first yeah I I think as I've talked to folks across the the second [48:58] district I know that even just growing up in Minnesota born and raised here that the issue is not with the quality [49:05] of our health care with the quality of the Health Care Professionals or even our our Medtech companies it's with the [49:11] cost of healthc care I remember visiting with a uh family farmers who um are supporters of mine down in lur County [49:17] and they talked about how you know hey our biggest issue facing us from a policy perspective is not necessarily [49:23] some in the weeds you know farming policy is issue it's what the price of Health healthcare because they have a [49:29] family of five and so I think some of the things we can do are just kind of Common Sense bipar and things um making [49:35] sure that any type of policies are going to be uh patient uh centered they're going to have some price transparency [49:42] and I think things that I've heard of more recently that are really Innovative like direct primary care which are [49:47] functionally you know avenues for folks to um almost have a low you know low cost subscription service we have direct [49:54] access to Primary Care providers I think things like that will open up a low low [50:00] low price health care and that's the type of solutions that I'd be focused on okay Angie you have 90 seconds sure [50:08] well I I ran the self-insured healthc care plan at St Jude Medical uh 16,000 covered lives across the United States [50:14] and one of the biggest challenges we had was keeping the cost of compound drugs and Specialty drugs within our plan uh [50:21] at reasonable rates and again we had to sign the checks every time but the most [50:26] significant issue that voters are talking to me about on the doors is actually around women's health care it's [50:32] around Reproductive Rights and my opponent here is the anti-abortion activist he was an activist in college [50:39] in a pro-life group uh he is now Spends His free time on the board of a Pregnancy Crisis Center that won't tell [50:46] women the full range of options that they have um and he also has answered a [50:52] survey to Minnesota's largest pro-life organization saying that on the day he [50:58] is elected that he will do nothing to weaken any state law in place at the [51:03] time of that election I believe that we have to return to a time where we codify [51:09] row 50 years before the dobs decision women had reproductive freedoms across [51:14] our country and what my opponent is saying is that the states that are [51:21] Banning abortion even in the case of rape incest and life of the mother the [51:29] only body that can do anything about that is the United States Congress and he's saying as a member of Congress he [51:36] has pledged not to do a damn thing about it that's not [51:41] Freedom Joe you now have 30 seconds to respond um Angie Craig you said I spend [51:48] my free time at this Pregnancy Resource Center that's a center that my mom when she faced an unplan pregnancy went to [51:54] and Prov was given support to have me so I think it's honestly sad and pathetic that you'd bring that up in this context [52:01] when you support women I'm running for Minnesota's second congressional district this is a federal this is not a [52:08] federal issue this is a state issue um and we need to give this issue the grace [52:13] and compassion it deserves not that it's used like a political wedge like you have done provenly making misleading [52:20] statements as proven by WCCO um and KSTP it's un sad and unfortunate Angie Craig Andrew you have [52:27] 30 seconds to respond Joe I'm glad your mom made the decision that was right for her [52:34] now asking every that you let every other woman in America make the decision [52:40] that is right for them at the end of the day this is about Freedom it's about [52:48] keeping politicians and governments out of your doctor's office and you've pledged as a member of Congress that you [52:55] won't do that the only body that could change that in our [53:01] nation okay thank you next question we're going we're going to move [53:06] on to talk about security and safety over the last several years we have seen mounting deadly incidents in our streets [53:11] our schools and our workplaces and actually right here even in Lakeville we've seen our schools invest in infrastructure um to keep our kids safe [53:18] so what specific Law changes do you support to help curb this trend keep our students families and workers safe and [53:25] how will you drive them Angie you will go first with this one well look Public Safety is the first priority it should [53:32] be of any elected official and I am so proud to be endorsed by the rank and [53:39] file police officers of Minnesota in mpoa this is the second election that [53:45] I've been endorsed by them and it's an honor to have their support in my [53:50] reelection you know specifically I want to say that uh I I can't come to to a [53:56] debate and not recognize the community of Burnsville in Dakota County and Paul [54:03] and Matthew and Adam who lost their lives protecting our communities you [54:10] know what people in our community want they want to feel safe and that's why [54:16] I've been so focused on the first center here in Lakeville making sure that we can get them resources we just found out [54:22] a couple of weeks ago uh that we got community oriented leasing federal grants to two police departments here in [54:30] in excuse me three police departments for six new officers in Lakeville we just found out we've got 15 new [54:37] firefighters that we're going to fund I've been laser focused on making sure [54:42] that our officers in our community have the resources they need to keep our [54:48] communities safe and I am very proud that that has earned me the endorsement of rank and file police officers in the [54:54] state of Minnesota thank you Angie Joel yeah um Angie Craig [55:00] you put a lot of weight on the mppoa endorsement but let's talk about [55:05] individual issues because I think the folks here can think about those issues you know stepping back my job as a state [55:11] prosecutor was to put domestic abusers Behind Bars my job as a federal prosecutor when I was promoted to that [55:18] position was to put cartel link drug traffickers Behind Bars the feeding our future frosters Behind Bars a cop killer [55:26] Behind Bars and I I think it's sad and unacceptable that there's no coincidence that assaults against police officers in [55:32] the last few years have doubled because we have a feckless political class that [55:38] wants to charge cops more than criminals um I would never have gotten swept up in [55:43] the defund the police fervor like you did Angie Craig when you voted for the [55:48] George Floyd Justice and policing act and you can give me that look you gave me but you voted for that bill that [55:55] would have kneecapped law enforcement that bill would have opened up qualified immunity [56:01] so any cop and if there's any cops in here providing security and thank you so much for what you're doing here that [56:06] would have opened up them up to lawsuits up and down that would have dictated to law enforcement agencies that they could [56:13] have been get been dictated policies by the ACLU and other defunded police groups and worse of all before you're [56:19] whatever you're talking about now it would have actually removed the ability of local law enforcement agencies from [56:25] getting military S Equipment like the Bearcat that saved lives ear in Burnsville you voted for that bill so [56:33] you can flip flop now you can explain it now you can talk to talk but you can't walk to walk when you had a vote to [56:40] actually stand by law enforcement thank you Joe Angie Joe if you wanted to run [56:46] against a defund the police Democrat you should have move to some other congressional district because that's [56:53] not me and you know it after Burnsville I listen to all of you and I've actually [56:58] introduced a bill that would remove all restrictions on tactical Vehicles across [57:03] our country and I'm advocating for it and the police officers in this room know that I have made the commitment [57:11] publicly out loud through the press press and I call out other politicians who speak ill of police in this state [57:18] and across their country I have made the commitment that I will not vote to remove qualified immunity thank you [57:25] Angie Jo you made the commitment after you voted for it you made the commitment [57:31] after you voted to get rid of qualified immunity to make sure that small uh local law enforcement can't get barecat [57:38] vehicles again can law enforcement trust you Angie Craig I don't know if they can [57:43] trust you and you know what I've spent hours days working hand inand with law [57:50] enforcement to put hardened criminals behind bars every one of them have told me we [57:55] just need your we just need you to have our back right now we can't have feckless politicians like you that don't [58:02] have their back okay thank you both for that we are we're running just slightly [58:07] ahead of our time we're going to we're going to slip one more question in for you guys one final question that's right the categories we provide you with smart [58:13] moderators we learned from some of the folks in the Press Corps up there you need to hold an out what happens if [58:19] something comes up that's uh topical well today's U star trip says Israel [58:24] escalates in Gaza and Lebanon and um so there's a tremendous amount of pressure [58:30] in the Middle East what do you see the role of the United States in the Middle East given the current events the [58:35] question is what specific actions would you advocate for balancing military support for Israel with diplomatic [58:41] efforts in the region Joe you get to go first we need to stand by Israel 100% we [58:46] need to stand by our allies 100% I know that because when I was honored to serve [58:52] in the United States Marine Corps for 5 years on active duty and deployed once to Iraq we were going against Isis and [59:00] at that time I knew to my core that sometimes there are people in this world that aren't like you and me they don't [59:06] respond to negotiation they only respond to force and right now sadly we're seeing our world in chaos because we've [59:14] projected weakness and not strength with the Biden Harris agenda that's been supported by ngie Craig we need to stand [59:19] by our allies our allies like Israel as Iran Sprints their tentacles across the [59:25] Middle East we need to stand stand against Russia of course and making sure that we're not going a blank check to Ukraine but that we're supporting [59:31] efforts to go against our geopolitical foes and then that we're standing up to China and we can't have them threatening [59:37] Taiwan the world needs peace and we get peace through strength and that strength [59:43] comes from the United States of America we need to support our military build up our military and we cannot undercut an [59:50] any way the effort that Israel has in defeating evil we saw evil inamas we we [59:56] can defeat evil if we support them 100% okay Angie 90 [1:00:01] seconds I think we have to stand by our Ally Israel you know Israel on October [1:00:08] 7th um it's a tough day in America you know my wife is Jewish two of our kids [1:00:17] are Jewish and this is a really personal day because Israel was attacked [1:00:23] anti-Semitism is on the rise here in America and at the end of the day it's [1:00:28] one of the worst days in the history of Israel you know they're being attacked [1:00:35] by Hamas in Gaza attacked by Hezbollah in [1:00:41] Lebanon this is a time where we stand by our friends we stand by our allies and [1:00:46] as a member of Congress I voted to send defense [1:00:51] supplies when this Administration tried to pause a shipment to Israel I stood [1:00:57] with Republicans on this issue because at the end of the day Israel is the only [1:01:03] democracy in the Middle East it is the only Middle Eastern country where I [1:01:08] would feel safe taking my own family my wife our four sons and I will always [1:01:16] stand with our Ally Israel someday probably not today because we see what's [1:01:23] happening in the world we need to move ourselves Israel needs to move to a [1:01:30] two-state solution which is the only solution in the Middle East thank you [1:01:36] Joe you have 30 seconds we always need to stand with Israel and we did that in early of [1:01:43] January 2020 when the United States did a targeted elimination of General [1:01:49] Iranian General solomani who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people across the world [1:01:55] including 100 Americans and it was sad Angie Craig again talk in the talk walk in the walk you undercut the elimination [1:02:03] of General salomani with a tweet and what we cannot do is we cannot talk about ceasefires and deescalation and [1:02:11] undercut Israel's full ability to defend themselves as a nation we are strong [1:02:16] Israel Ally and we have to support them Andre you have 30 seconds we should stand with our Ally Israel which is [1:02:23] exactly what I've done as a member of Congress representing the second district of [1:02:29] Minnesota all right thank you both so now we're into closing comments um thank you both for for [1:02:37] everything you've had to say candidates you have two minutes Angie you started with opening comments so Joe you start [1:02:43] with closing comments well thank you so much again John and chrisa for um moderating this and thank you everyone [1:02:49] for for being here thank you congresswoman this is a really important election this is an election that's [1:02:55] going to turn determine where our country goes um we can go two directions right we can go with the status quo or [1:03:01] we can go a new direction we can go with the status qu in the economy with a congresswoman who voted lock up with the [1:03:07] Biden Harris agenda this only poured gas on the inflation fire I think we can go a different direction by cut cutting [1:03:14] Reckless spending by actually rooting out waste Fraud and Abuse and yes extending extending those tax cuts from [1:03:20] 20 2017 I think we can go a new Direction on the border to say look we are a country of immigrants we need a [1:03:26] robust Workforce but we need some Law and Order On the Border we can't go with someone who's showed signs of not [1:03:33] strength on the border we can go a different direction on crime making sure that we're keeping our streets safe [1:03:39] making sure we're not having PE giving people reasons to flee Minnesota it's just so sad as a PR Minnesota born and [1:03:46] raised to see people fleeing Minnesota young professionals who have a tax climate and a political climate that's [1:03:51] not good for them we can go a different direction you know and it's I'm sure this might come up on on your comments [1:03:57] but it's is sad and unfortunate again that um there are political wedge issues that you've used um congresswoman Craig [1:04:04] um about abortion and um this is again it's a personal issue to me given my mom [1:04:10] choosing life going to a Crisis Pregnancy Center this is not a federal issue it is a state issue and you cannot [1:04:17] run on your record there aren't ads running constantly about the economy how [1:04:23] great it is in inflation On the Border there aren't ads on those but what is [1:04:28] deep to my core is this the strength of America is with you it's with job creators with middle class Families my [1:04:34] goal as a congress person if I'd be honored to earn your vote is to give you more power we don't need more money with [1:04:40] the government I know working as a federal prosecutor that the government is not great at spending money but when [1:04:46] you get have money and power that's how America thrives that's going to be my go on Congress thank you thank you Joe [1:04:52] Angie you have two minutes for your closing comments well thank you so much to the Regional Chamber it's such an [1:04:58] honor to be here and to the partner Chambers as well Common Ground committee has ranked me in the top 3% of all [1:05:05] bipartisan members of Congress Pro Politico has said that I am the sixth [1:05:11] most independent Democrat in the entire Democratic party and that's out of [1:05:17] 214 I've stood up to the B Administration on issues such as law [1:05:22] enforcement on border security and support of our family Farmers last year according to NBC News [1:05:30] I voted against the Biden Administration 30% of the time I am an independent voice for this [1:05:39] District you know people in this room we've been through a lot together the last several years I was there in the [1:05:46] Congress under President Trump I worked with him to get PPP money out to you and then I worked to get the chambers [1:05:52] included in the American Rescue plan those 501 C6 organizations I've been to [1:05:58] so many of your businesses I've heard your stories I know more than anybody what the American dream looks like [1:06:05] because I lived it I worked my way up to the executive team of a Fortune 500 [1:06:10] company from a trailer part I know what that's like and for the rest of my time [1:06:17] serving you you better bet I'm going to be laser focused on listening to you we [1:06:23] need a new post office in Lakeville and Farmington we're getting a new post [1:06:28] office in New pra we're getting new roads and bridges across this [1:06:34] congressional district I'm bringing your tax dollars home for the first time in [1:06:39] 30 years it has been such an honor to represent this congressional district [1:06:45] over the last six years and it would be a true honor to represent you for the [1:06:51] next two years in the United States Congress thank you thank you both for much Christa bring us home wonderful [1:06:58] well on behalf of the chamber partners of the second congressional district we thank you both not only for your desire to serve but for spending time with us [1:07:04] today so that we can learn more about your um your priorities and how you would support our businesses their [1:07:10] employees and their families so thank you both very much for being here thank you to our live audience uh and members [1:07:15] of the media in attendance uh and everyone has made this event possible today just a reminder to those in our [1:07:21] live audience that due to scheduling we there will not be an opportunity to interact with the candidates so we do ask that you um exit the art center uh [1:07:28] immediately following our broadcast here today so just as a reminder none of the [1:07:34] congressional district 2 chamber Partners have endorsed nor will endorse a candidate in this or any political [1:07:40] race this year that choice rests with you the voters so do your civic duty and [1:07:48] remember to vote on November 5th thank you um and have a great fall supporting all of your cd2 chamber businesses to [1:07:55] keep keep our regional economy strong and thank you candidates [Applause] [1:08:12] [Music]